By Laxman Kafle
Kathmandu, Sept. 5: A modern outlet of vegetables and fruits has come into operation in the Kathmandu Valley since Saturday.
Freshktm, the new company, opened its first outlet at Ratopul amid a function today with the aim of supplying quality fresh and safe vegetables to the consumers as well as retailers of the valley.
Launched by four individuals, who have been in construction business and other occupations, the company has started the business with a plan to supply fresh vegetables and fruits containing low quantity of chemicals directly to the retailers and consumers from the farmers.

“We have opened this outlet to promote locally grown fresh produce. Consumers will be able to buy all kinds of vegetables and fruits as per their requirements,” said Sandip Adhikari, chief executive officer of Freshktm.
He said that consumers could get safe and fresh vegetables at a reasonable price as no middleman would be involved in this process of vegetable supply as the Freshktm itself purchases produce directly from the farmers.
In the outlet, vegetables grown in different places of the country, including Rolpa, Kapurkot of Salyan, Chitlang, Dhading, Panauti of Kavrepalanchowk are showcased.

Adhikari said that they would bring vegetables reaching any place where they are grown using minimum quantity of chemicals and supply them directly to the retailers and consumers.
Even though the company’s main objective is to work in business-to-business (B2B) supply chain, it has, now, opened an outlet through B2C approach for branding and making people aware of fresh and safe locally grown produce, he said.

On Saturday, the first day of its opening, the company was selling a kilogram of okra at Rs. 60, cucumber at Rs. 50, capsicum (red and yellow) Rs. 425, broccoli at Rs. 225, bitter gourd at Rs. 55, radish at Rs. 35 and bottle gourd at Rs. 35.
"Once again, I want to request all consumers of the Kathmandu Valley to visit the outlet and test vegetables sold by us," he said.

He said that they would sell vegetables at a fair price as they would set very nominal profit margin to manage the operating cost because they have a target to supply vegetables across the country in B2B model.
Yadav Prasad Pant of Maitidevi expressed his happiness over the opening of the new vegetable shop in Kathmandu by maintaining temperature to keep vegetables fresh for a long time.
"The decoration and showcase of vegetables is very good and prices of vegetables available in the outlet are also reasonable compared to other retail shops in the market. Our concern is that we can purchase vegetables at a fair price in the coming days," he said.

"The Freshktm must win the trust of the people that we get safe and fresh vegetables here at reasonable rates," he said.
He bought vegetables, including mushroom and tomato.

Another consumer from nearby the outlet Nirmala Shrestha said that she found the price of vegetables and fruits available in the shop reasonable.
She said that she bought cucumber, apple, banana and pomegranate from the new outlet. "We found different varieties of vegetables of different places. So, we have an option to choose vegetables under one roof," she said.